He's been experimenting with different Rasheth builds as an answer to Wurmwood and his latest version is a beast brick with double cannoneers.
Castigate is absolutely brutal in this match up, not being able to channel spells or cast animi is a huge deal for Wurmwood lists and mine is no exception. Having easy access to pathfinder is also really annoying as it somewhat mitigates my feat.
Dominar Rasheth
-Bronzeback Titan
-Titan Gladiator
-Titan Cannoneer x2
-Cyclops Brute
Paingiver bloodrunners
Paingiver beast handlers (max)
Extoller Soulward
Void Spirit x2
Bloodrunner Master Tormenter (proxied by Zekaar)
I played the Wurmwood list that I've been tinkering with off and on for the last couple of months. Everything in here has a place, and I'm zeroing in on the build I want.
Wurmwood, Tree of Fate
-Cassius, the Oathkeeper
-Warpwolf Stalker
-Megalith
-Gorax Rager
Max Brigands and CA
Min Bone Grinders
Gatorman Bokur and Shamblers
Sentry stone x2
Shifting Stone x2
Gallows Grove
Lanyssa Ryssyl
We were playing scenario 7: outlast and my opponent won the roll off. I chose the bottom half of the table as the forest on the right is a great screen for Wurmwood and the wall on the left side of the table is also pretty great.
My opponent deployed pretty centrally, and after seeing my Brigands on the right, he deployed his Bloodrunners on that side hoping stealth would keep them safe from everything but the Sentry Stones.
I knew that this was going to be a scenario game for me, the big rough terrain patch on his right was going to force him to put some significant resources into getting his slow beasts into that side of the table without running and doing nothing else. Stranglehold is also a big deal if I can get Wurmwood far up into that zone or if I can get my Gallows Grove outside of Castigate range.
With this in mind, I deployed my Brigands on the right with the Shamblers central so they could go right and make the left zone very hard to clear once I engage the Cannoneer(s). Wurmwood got placed left, along with the Gallows Grove. Megalith also went right as having access to a second Stranglehold is quite valuable.
Also note that almost all of my important models are not at max deploy on the side his Bloodrunners are on - Rasheth can arc a Breath of Corruption through one of them top of one and kill or damage things in my deployment zone. I've lost a full health Sentry Stone top of one before with a cranked damage roll and was NOT eager for that to happen again.
The Brigands put prey on the Gladiator.
My opponent ran his Bloodrunners far left and mostly onto the hill to protect them from Sentry Stone Mannikins. His beasts pretty much just ran, with Rasheth casting Carnivore onto the Bronzeback and Castigate on himself, as well as Rush on the foremost Cannoneer. The Void Spirits go wide so they can come in and be arc nodes later, and the Master Tormenter takes the trench.
Circle turn 1:
I see an angle here to run Cassius 12" over to the left, outside of Castigate range. This will allow Wurmwood to arc a Hellmouth through him into the Bloodrunner not on the hill, catch all four Bloodrunners, and then yank Cassius back with Dark Path.
The Sentry Stones activate first as usual, and between the two units are able to kill the Master Tormenter.
Cassius runs over and I manage to get the Hellmouth off, killing four of the Bloodrunners.
The Bone Grinders advance behind Wurmwood and kill eachother, giving him three souls and the Bokur no corpses cuz I'm a monkey and placed him too far away.
Brigands just advanced and dug in because the Cannoneer has a 22" threat with his AOE 4 if he wants it, and the Shamblers ran.
Megalith ran into the zone, the Gorax and Stalker riled and ran so I had seven fury out there. The stones not around Wurmwood ported up, and the other stones ported Wurmwood into the zone and also inside of the other unit of shifting stones. Lanyssa ran up behind the Gallows Grove after it shifted up.
Skorne turn 2:
Killing all of those Bloodrunners really puts a damper on my opponents plans. He thinks for a bit, and then upkeeps Carnivore and starts his turn. Both Cannoneers get Rush and advance, the one on the left doing decent damage to the Sentry Stone behind the wall and the other putting a couple damage into Megalith.
The Bloodrunners and Void Spirit on the left run out of the camera shot to the left, and the one on the right runs off to the side.
The Bronzeback moves up behind the forest, and the Brute follows Rasheth around after he casts Castigate again. He also arcs a Breath of Corruption through the Bloodrunner closest to my models, killing the Sentry Stone and making the Brigand roll tough, which he does.
I see a good opportunity to dominate the zone on the right this turn. All I need to do is land a Hunters Mark on the Cannoneer over there and Megalith charges for free, doing approx. 9 damage on the charge, and then average of 5 more damage per attack for 5 attacks, or 35 damage total to the Cannoneers 28 boxes.
With this in mind, Wurmwood uses his souls to get up to ten fury (love doing that).
The Gallows Grove moves outside of Castigate range on the right, Lanyssa walks up, casts Hunters Mark at the Cannoneer and hits with a 3, nearly giving me a heart attack. Megalith charges in, and rolls incredibly, incredibly badly for his first two damage rolls. I'm all in here, so I by four more attacks and spike three of them to kill the Cannoneer.
Brigands advance, shoot the Cannoneer, and then reposition. The remaining Mannikins swarm the Bronzeback, and the Shamblers run. The Stalker advances, and Wurmwood activates, casts a Stranglehold at the Void Spirit on the right, boosting hit and damage and killing it. He then feats and gets ported out because the Bronzeback was in trample range. I didn't think about the fact that I would not be dominating the zone at that point, and I only get one point.
Score 1-0
Advantage Circle
Skorne turn 3:
Wurmwood's feat is....well it's Wurmwood's feat!
My opponent doesn't get much done this turn. The Bronzeback gets enraged and Rushed from the Gladiator. The Soulward walks over and shoots Megalith, doing nothing.
Rasheth activates, feats, and arcs Blood Mark through the Soulward into Megalith, making him only ARM 15 now.
The Bronzeback activates and tramples over to Megalith, buying three attacks (rolling a five each attack) and doesn't manage to kill him. The dice weren't great there, but they weren't exactly in his favor either. Average damage says the Bronzeback does 33 damage in this situation, which doesn't quite kill Megalith. A little lucky and Megalith dies, a little unlucky and Megalith lives.
The Cannoneer shoots some stuff. The Brute kills a couple of Shamblers.
Score 1-0
Advatntage Circle
Circle turn 3:
I have a cute plan for this turn. The Bronzeback is 15 inches away from Rasheth, and Megalith has a good chance of tossing him too the right. I can contest the left zone again and port Wurmwood into the right zone to dominate.
Megalith does activate first, heals a bit, walks around the Bronzeback to the left side, and throws him out of the zone. He then casts Stranglehold at the Gladiator, doing a few damage and locking him there.
The Gallows Grove ports out of the zone to make the Bronzeback frenzy into it. The Stalker runs to the right zone and things just jam into the left zone.
Wurmwood gets a talisman from the Bonegrinder, boosts a Stranglehold into the Void Spirit down to the left, and then gets ported into the right zone to dominate.
Score 3-0
Advantage Circle
Skorne turn 4:
He needs to contest here, and all he has to kill Megalith with is the Brute. In hindsight I should have just cast a forest wall there make it impossible.
The Bronzeback frenzies into my Gallows Grove.
The beast handlers clear off the Brute, who gets Rush from Rasheth and charges Megalith, killing him. The Gladiator walks up into the zone.
Score 3-0
Advantage Circle
Circle turn 4:
I just need to kill the Gladiator and the Brute and I can dominate to win here.
The Bone Grinder crafts Wurmwood a talisman. Wurmwood casts Curse of Shadows onto the Gladiator, and then cranks the damage of a Stranglehold into it.
Shifting stones go to block a countercharge from the Bronzeback if I get careless with my placement later in the turn.
The Gorax backs out of Castigate range (he cast it every turn) and puts Primal on the Stalker. Lanyssa puts Hunters Mark on the Gladiator. The Brigands move up and a couple shoot the Gladiator for a couple damage. Sentry Mannikins charge the Brute and do a couple.
The Stalker charges in, warping strength, and is able to kill both beasts so that Wurmwood can dominate the zone again.
Victory for the Druids!
Post Game Thoughts:
The central forest really punished the Skorne list, and it allowed Wurmwood to play very safe. Megalith was MVP this game, Stranglehold on a stick is incredibly strong and the potential for a -5 DEF swing is also quite valuable.
Overall I felt like I played this game pretty much correctly. I could have gotten unlucky and lost Megalith to the Bronzeback, but that was a trade I kind of had to make. I should have put the Stalker into the zone instead that turn to kill the follow up but I blanked hard there.
Rasheth is the real deal though, his feat is vicious and Castigate is awful to play around. None of the games I've played against him have been seriously one sided and this one was no mistake. A little bit of a dice swing in my opponents favor and I probably would have lost this game.
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